Standing in the Rain
by Angelic Toaster
Summary: This isn't right. Raven's sure, absolutely positive, that the dimension she was supposed to end up in has much more modern technology, and absolutely no alchemy! Inspired by the song 'Stand in the Rain' by Superchick. The story is much better than the summary, I promise!
1. Chapter 1

_**CHAPTER 1 of Standing in the Rain**_

How… is he doing that? That man, whenever he places his arm on something, it drastically alters the activity of the molecules of any water in the thing-freezing, heating, or changing its shape at his will. Does it have something to do with the circular array on the metal on his arm? Is that… a transmutation circle from the books on alchemy at the libraries in Azarath? It must be, and that means… Oh no, I've gone through the wrong portal! This isn't the Earth I was meant to arrive at! This must be Amestris!

I almost gasp as the alchemist freezes the water in one man's body, and boils the next man. Stepping back further into the shadows to ensure I'm hidden, I begin trying to think of a way to stop this man. Suddenly, a spear almost stabs the alchemist. "That's alchemy," cries the man as he barely avoids being hit by it.

"What a nasty thing to do," calls the voice of a small, blond man as he walks into the alley. Well, I call him small, but as far as I can tell he's only a few inches shorter than me.

The first man begins talking, growing more excited as he does. "You of all people should know great things require great sacrifice. Isn't that the law of equivalent exchange?"

"Save your breath," begins the smaller one angrily, "the laws of alchemy don't justify murder!" Then he claps his hands together, forming bright blue sparks, and grabs the spear. It changes form in his hand, becoming a spiked club that he points at the first man. Was that also alchemy? It seemed to be, but he had no visible circle. Unless…

"No transmutation circle," gasps the first man.

The blond one smirks at him and says, "Don't be too impressed. Now!" At his signal, a large man in armor appears behind the first man, blocking his only exit, and forcing him onto his back. The blond one strikes with his club, and the man has to hold it back with his metal-covered arm. Pushing away the club, he jumps up and strikes the armored man. He grabs the small one's club when he tries to swing it and places a hand on the boy's hand. I want to help, but I can't move in time. Blue sparks show up as the man tries alchemy. The smaller one is forced back a few steps, and his coat is ruined, revealing why it didn't work. He has a metal arm.

"What," cries the first man, "No! I had you! Any water there should have boiled!"

The short one glares up at him, waving off the armored one's worry. "If it's any consolation, you ruined my coat." Then he tears off the red garment dramatically.

"An automail arm! A young, gifted alchemist; one who doesn't use transmutation circles, and who has an automail right arm," I wonder briefly why the man keeps repeating these facts, "I know you. You are the Fullmetal Alchemist, Edward Elric!"

Fullmetal? Who came up with that?

Suddenly, the first man turns to the armored one, "Soo… it's not you?" This peeves off the short one, Edward, and I wonder if he gets that a lot.

Awkwardly, the armored one replies, "Oh! Uhmm… no! I'm his younger brother, Alphonse!" Younger? Weird.

"But he's a runt," says the first man, confused. Why is this so hard for him to grasp? Varying height is a fact of life, is it not? Edward jumps at this.

"OH YEA, CAN A RUNT DO THIS?" He claps his hands again and touches the floor. The first man is suddenly trapped in the extended bit of the walls beside him.

The first man didn't really seem to notice. "I'd heard the stories, but still, I didn't imagine this! The Fullmetal Alchemist is just a little kid?" Edward glared and clapped, forming a giant hand from the alley wall to send the first man flying.

While he did this he cried, "DON'T CALL ME LITTLE!"

Gently, his brother Alphonse said, "You know brother; I don't think he was referring to your height that time."

"Well even if he wasn't, he still pissed me off," seethed Edward. I found some amusement in how irritated the boy seems.

Suddenly, a man in a blue uniform appears in the alley, beaming. I wonder if he sees the men sharing his uniform that lie dead on the ground. "So you're the one we hear all of the stories about, the Fullmetal Alchemist! You're as good as they say, thanks for the help!" As more uniformed men walk down the alley, Alphonse struggles to explain that it's not him. I almost smile, before remembering myself and stuffing down my emotions.

"Um… You're welcome but… I'm really not the one you should be thanking." Ed appeared then, with his coat fixed.

"Let's get goin' Al, we've got a train to catch."

"Oh! Okay… I mean, if you think it's alright to leave." I turned my attention to the soldiers marching away with the now handcuffed murderer, wondering how they'd handle him for his crimes. Suddenly, he pulled off one of his gloves with his other hand, and my eyes widened as I say a circle drawn on his palm. Catching sight of the puddles beside him as he was falling, I jump out of the alley. Just as he begins the alchemy to form the steam, I place a barrier of my black energy over myself and the toy boys in front of me, forming a bubble that the steam can't enter. The boys gasp in surprise, looking around for the source of it. Just as the steam encases the bubble, they find me behind them. I realize how suspicious I must look with my black leotard and blue cape, hood obscuring the features on my face; my hands are thrown out, glowing black with the use of my powers.

Edward and his brother gasp and Edward cries, "Who are you?"

I quirk one eyebrow at his question. Noticing that the steam has mostly cleared out of the bubble, I draw the energy back into myself and lower my arms. "I'm no one," I respond carefully.

"How did you do that," asks Alphonse as he watches the energy disappear.

"It's what I do," I respond with a shrug, "And it doesn't matter. That steam I shielded you from was created by the guy you just captured, and he's getting away."

Ed, realizing I'm telling the truth, cries, "Damn it, now's he's really pissed me off! You," he says, turning back to me, "stay with us! This conversation isn't over!" I blink out of surprise. He wants me near him? Probably just to question me, but… I comply. I follow them silently as they go to the large buildings in the center of town, that I assume are the military headquarters, and into the office of a man with black hair and high ranking.

"So, you underestimated your opponent, Fullmetal," taunts the man.

Edward glares into space and mutters, "Who is this guy, anyway?"

The man smirks, "You'd know that if you listened to the briefing like I told you to. But no, you had to go charging right after him-"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," interrupts Edward. I almost smirk at how uncomfortable he is as I watch from my place in a dark corner of the office. "Alright? I'm sorry, okay, whatever."

The man chuckles, "Next time a superior tells you to pay attention, you might just try it. Now then, his name is Isaac McDougal, or as he was known back in the day, Isaac the Freezer. He's a former State Alchemist."

"Former," wonders Edward.

"That's right. He served in the Ishvallan War, and during that time, he gave us no signs that he'd turn traitor. But after, he immediately resigned and went into hiding. He's been working with the Anti-Establishment movement ever since." As he spoke, the officer stood from his desk and walked to look out the window. Turning around, he locks his eyes one Edward. "Taking him in is top-priority. Whether he's dead or alive: that's up to him."

Looking away, Edward muttered, "No way, I'm not killin' anyone for you."

"And that's your choice," responded the man, "your orders are simply to help us contain him. That's all." Then he smirked. "Off-topic, who's the lady you brought in with you?"

My eyes widened a bit as they all turned to look at me, but I quickly returned my face to an emotionless mask. "I'm Raven," I responded. "I was in the alley when McDougal arrived, and I saw what went down."

Edward told the officer with an odd tone, "When McDougal created the steam to escape, she did something pretty interesting to shield Al and I from it."

"Oh yea," Began the man, looking right into my eyes, "Want to show us what you did, Miss Raven?"

I considered just teleporting away for a moment, but something inside of me made me comply. Moving so that my cloak opened and fell behind my arms, I spread my arms out wide and focused my energy. My hands began to glow with the black energy, and it encased the table between the brothers. I brought my arms together in front of me, exaggerating my movements for show, and threw them both to the right. The table went flying across the room in the same direction, and I pulled my energy back into myself.

"What was that," asked the man.

"My powers. To put it simply, the black energy you see is a manipulation of my soul, the energy of which I can use to move objects, create barriers, levitate, and more."

"Levitate?" The man's eyes widened as he repeated my words. Frowning lightly because he didn't believe me, I raised up into the air, flew across the room to where the table had landed, and dropped down.

"How can you do these things," asks the man as he walks towards me. He stops when he's just a foot in front of me, and I'm forced to look up at him, making my hood fall off of my head. I can feel all of their shock as they take in my purple hair and eyes and the bright read chakra on the center of my forehead.

Frowning lightly, I back up until I'm not looking right up to face him, and use my powers to pull my hood back up. "I'm not from here." The tense silence seems never-ending, when suddenly, a man bursts through the door.

"Roy! How goes? I heard you let them put you in charge of catching the Freezer, huh? One hell of a nasty assignment! But hey, could be your chance to earn that promotion to central!" 'Roy' seemed more than irked that the man had shown up, and I could see why. The emotions rolling off of that man were so unbridled that I had to readjust all of my mental barriers the moment he walked in, and a headache is already beginning to set in from him. "Oh say, looks like my timing was perfect! You two are the Elric brothers, right?" He ran up to Alphonse and began excitedly shaking his hand. "Wow, it's an honor to finally meet the youngest State Alchemist ever. You're a real legend around here! I'm Lt. Col. Maes Hughes, a pleasure!"

"Uh… um," Alphonse began, unsure how to say this, "You want Edward! I'm actually his younger brother Alphonse!"

"WHAT? You're the Fullmetal Alchemist? Sorry: I had no idea you'd be so…" I sighed in relief as he finally stopped talking and watched Roy cross the room to face Hughes.

"Hughes," called Roy.

"Yeah?"

"What are you doing here? Go home."

"Actually, I'm here on official business. You, Elrics, I understand that you two don't have a place to stay, which means you'll have to come with me." He said this especially seriously, and I could just feel the mirth at his small joke pouring out of him. He reaches into his jacket for something, and the brothers freak, but it's only a piece of paper. Unconsciously, I cross the room until I'm standing behind Edward, just to get a look at it. It's a picture of a woman and a small child, who both look… happy. Grinning, he almost squealed, "My wife Gracia and my daughter Elysia-we'd love to have you over!" I tilted my head to the side a bit in confusion. At the mention of his family, his emotions seemed to triple in how powerful they were; I had never felt something so strong come from one simple man. "And who's this young lady?" I widened my eyes, realizing that I had walked right in front of him. They all looked at me again. Everything was silent, until-

"She's our friend, Raven," said Alphonse, looking pointedly at his brother. Edward paused a moment, before nodding agreement. I don't know what to do. Friend? They only just met me! By whose definition am I 'friend' material?

Hughes grins excitedly and says to me, "Then you'll have to come with us, I'm sure Gracia and Elysia would love to meet you too!" I blinked repeatedly, trying to understand why everyone was being so excepting of me. Don't they know? Can't they tell that I'm a monster who doesn't deserve their kindness? Eventually, I nod slowly. Grinning with renewed vigor, Hughes marches over and grabs my hand, pulling me out of the room. Out of panic, I grip Edward's wrist as we pass him, eyes wide as Hughes pulls both of us behind him. Alphonse follows, his amusement overwhelming my senses.

Soon, we arrive at his house, and are faced with a child. She's small and blond and small and her emotions are even more powerful that Hughes's. My head is pounding, and I stare at the small child with my confusion written clearly across my face. Somewhere along the way, my hood got pulled down, so everyone can see. She had already decided that Edward was Alphonse's little brother, and then she saw me. I heard Hughes introduce me to her, but I still didn't move. Suddenly, Edward appears right next to me and whispers loudly in my ear, "She's a child, not a bomb. You're supposed to say hello!"

I looked away from the girl and faced the boy, slightly surprised at how close his face suddenly was to mine. Instead of showing my surprise though, I glared at him. He paled considerably and backed away until he was hiding behind his brother. Turning back to the child, I muttered, "Hello."

She giggled and pointed at me, announcing "Big sister," before moving forward and wrapping her arms around my bare legs. The touch amplified her emotions broke down part of my mental barriers. Because of this, my eyes glowed bright white for a moment and my black energy encased the nearest vase, making it explode. Everyone jumped in surprise and, somehow connecting the dots of what cause it, Edward jumped out from behind his brother, peeling the little girl off of my legs as gently as he could. I just stood there, shock evident on my features. I only snapped out of it once I heard Edward apologizing profusely to the Hughes. I took a deep breath and watched as Edward fixed the vase with alchemy.

"Oh, it's fine," insisted Mrs. Hughes. I pull my hood back up to hide the blush forming on my face, and move back into Alphonse's shadow, which he pretends not to notice.

"I hope you three are hungry," begins Hughes, "Gracia's cooking is delicious!" We all sit down around a table laden with pies and salads and things that I don't quite know what they are. Mrs. Hughes pours everyone a glass of tea and sits down next to her husband. Edward's face lights up excitedly as he sees it all. "Okay, eat up," says Hughes.

"Okay!" Edward digs in immediately. "Wow," he says around a full mouth, " you weren't kiddin', this is great!"

"Don't be shy," says Gracia, "eat all you want!" Edward has no qualms about this, but Alphonse isn't eating, and neither am I, though I have at least taken a few sips of the tea (which is much better than the tasteless leaves the Monks would boil in Azarath.

"Alphonse," chuckles Hughes, "How're you going to eat wearing that armor? Take it off, relax!" This simple sentence makes Edward and Alphonse both stiffen, and I suddenly realize something that should have been obvious before.

"He's not allowed to; he has to wear it all of the time! It's uh- it's part of his Alchemy training," stuttered Edward as Alphonse makes unintelligible noises.

After a few moments of Edward babbling on about his excuse, which everyone but the child can tell is a blatant lie, Hughes says, "Alright! Well… Raven, why aren't you eating?"

I pause as I wonder exactly what to tell him. "I'm fasting," I mumble.

He smiles, "Oh you're religious?"

I pause, feeling compelled to tell him the truth. "No, but I was raised by Monks."

Edward and Alphonse simply stare at me as Hughes smiles and says, "Cool!"

That night, in the guest bedroom, there were two beds. Edward and Alphonse tried to make a show of confusion about beds. "It's alright," I told them, "I don't need to sleep. Keep it down though, I'm going to be meditating over here." I walked to the other side of the room from the beds and raised myself into the air, sitting in the lotus position and closing my eyes. Before I could start, Edward asks, "So you were really raised by monks?"

I open one eye and watch his curious expression for a moment, before nodding and closing the eye again. Before he can say something else, I begin to chant my mantra quietly, "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos. Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos…" I was only mildly aware of the brother whispering later in the night, as the world slipped away from me.

The next thing I was truly aware of was, "Raven!"

My eyes flew opened and I cried out, shocked, scrambling for balance for a moment before landing harshly on my butt. I looked around for who had disturbed me, and saw Edward standing in front of me, laughing so hard that he was barely standing upright. I glare at him for a moment, and he stop laughing, but the mirth is still evident in his features. Standing, I ask, "What time is it?"

"It's seven a.m., time for us to start working on finding the Freezer. Are you coming?" Holding back my surprise that they still want me to help them, I nod.

Not long after leaving the Hughes residence, we were taken by some soldiers to the scene of McDougal's latest murder.

"How awful," muttered Alphonse.

"Looks like a steam explosion, raise the temperature of water fast enough it expands with the force of a bomb blast, and the human body is seventy percent water," explains Edward. He begins walking away as he talks, and Alphonse and I follow, "Let's hurry. We have to find him before he hurts anyone else." Sudden explosions in an alley behind us make us turn around and run towards them.

Running into the alley, I see McDougal and a large, muscular man with a baby face that Edward and Alphonse seem to know. "Major!" cries Alphonse, gaining the men's attention.

McDougal throws an open water canister at us that explodes into steam, and before it can expand, I catch all of the water in a small bubble of my powers. The force of the expanding water as it becomes steam makes me shake slightly, but I keep the bubble intact until it all dissipates, and drop the bubble once it does.

"Thanks," cry Edward and Alphonse as they, and the baby-faced man, run after McDougal. I fly towards after them, catching up quickly to see that they lost him anyway. We continued searching all day, but as the sun went down, we still had no results.

Later that night, after Edward had a sudden idea, the brothers and I surrounded the Alley he fought the man I learned to be Armstrong in. We waited a while, but now Edward's hunch is paying off. I watch from above as Edward and Alphonse each cover one end of the alley. Squinting, I saw that McDougal, had uncovered a transmutation circle that he must have drawn earlier. Suddenly, he triggers it, and I have to fly backwards quickly to avoid being struck by the red energy that shoots into the sky. Around the city, I see many other identical red beams shooting up into the sky from other alleyways. What is he doing? Transmutation of such a massive scale, what will this cause? All of the moisture in the air around the circle begins freezing. And Edward and Alphonse are just standing there! Why aren't they moving?

I can hear them yelling about the true intent of the military but I don't pay it much attention. Suddenly, Alphonse jumps right over the ice wall between him, McDougal, and his brother, almost landing on McDougall himself, and begins attacking him, sending him flying into the street with a powerful kick. Edward asks him where his Philosopher's Stone is and, seemingly in response, McDougal makes the decorative pool behind him form a growing iceberg that he rides. Edward and Alphonse begin running and I fly as fast as I can towards them. Landing, My eyes glow white as I form a plate of black energy beneath their and my feet and use it to hold us all up in the air, ready to take off at a moment's notice.

"Thanks," said Edward. I see Armstrong behind us, making a show of punching the growing iceberg, and it just redirects through some buildings.

We can see from the sky as more walls of ice go straight through buildings and streets. "The ice walls," cries Alphonse.

"There merging," Edward saying, thinking out loud. "If they all meet in the middle… Aw, damn it! It's Central Command! He's gonna freeze it over! Major," he calls down to Armstrong, "We'll try to slow him town, can you take care of the circles?"

"Consider them erased, I'm on it," he replies.

"Not so fast," cries Edward as I bring my energy back into myself and we drop onto the ice behind him. McDougal tries to send a wall of ice at us and Edward cries, "Two can play that game," before breaking all of the ice under McDougal, sending him towards the ground.

Which some quick alchemy, he gets back onto the iceberg and grabs Alphonse's head, blowing it off of his body. "Alphonse," cries Edward. They both flip away from McDougal, Alphonse kicking him in the chin in the process, and they stand at the ready. Not all that surprised because I figured out that Alphonse is just a soul bonded to a suit of armor yesterday, I grab his head and fly over to them, placing it on his body quickly, to which he says, "Thanks Raven!"

McDougal, so shocked that he can't move, mutters, "There's no one in there; it's empty! But that… that could only be true if his soul was bonded to the armor. So you lost your arm, and you lost your body! Ha, I see! It all makes sense now. You fools committed the ultimate taboo! You attempted human transmutation, didn't you! Alchemy's one and only unforgivable sin!"

Everything is silent, and the emotions coming from Edward are so dark, so jumbled… so guilty. Finally, he says, "You know, there are some lines you really shouldn't cross," he says darkly as he stares down at the ground. Suddenly, he runs forward and slams McDougal's head into the ground, jumping back when he counters by creating ice spikes where Edward was a moment ago. Alphonse jumps forward, smashing the spikes, and strikes McDougal, knocking him off the side of the ice. The both slide down the slanted edge to meet him and I follow silently, just watching.

At the bottom, McDougal struggles to lift himself from the ground as blood trails down his forehead and arm. "Give it up," demands Edward, "There's no water for you to use here!" The look on McDougal's face when he says that doesn't bode well.

"You've forgotten something. I have all of the water I need, seventy percent of my body!" Edward gasps, eyes widening in disbelief. McDougal throws his arm out and the two trails of blood down his arm freeze and shoot forward, piercing Edward in his flesh arm. Alphonse yells his brother's name and smashes the frozen blood, disconnecting McDougal from Edward. No!

Without controlling it, I land on the ground and run at McDougal, yelling, "No one harms my friends!" He stands, eyes wide as he stares at me. I don't give him time to run.

I can feel my eyes glowing bright white as the black energy forms around my hands and about twenty, very heavy objects in the vicinity. Cars, lamp posts, poles, and bits of pavement become encased in my black energy. Focusing my energy, I cry, "Azarath, Metrion, ZINTHOS!" and all of the objects are flying right at McDougal from every direction. In the blink of an eye, he's buried beneath them all. I can feel all of his twist, insane, angry, scared emotions as they begin fading and realize that he's dying. No! Before my powers leave the objects, I left them off of him and run towards his body. He's unconscious, but now that he's freed, he'll have enough time to be found by the soldiers and taken under their care. I don't know if they'll kill him, but I won't.

Turning around, I walk towards the brothers. Alphonse is supporting Edward who is sitting, holding his shoulder, and they're staring at me with shock and apprehension. I run towards them and kneel down in front of Edward, looking him in the eyes. "Did… is he dead?"

He wanted to ask if I killed him. I recognize vaguely that my hood is down but I don't pull it up. "No, unconscious. He'll need medical attention in the next hour though, or he's gone." Edward nods before looking past me at all of the red lights from the transmutation circles. I look too, just in time to see them fade. He grins and turns his attention back to me, grinning. I don't smile, but I want to. After a moment, I make a decision. "Alphonse, let go of him," I say. Curious, Alphonse complies. They both give me a weird look as I gently put one arm behind Edward's shoulders and one arm in front of them, and make Edward lay down. Pulling his hand away from the wound, I try to get a good look at it. The cloth from his coat and shirt are in the way so I help him take off that arm of the coat before I tear the cloth of the shirt away from the area, making the two small holes in it one big one.

"What are you-" begins Edward, but I cut him off with a look. Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath and center my energy. When I open my eyes I know they are glowing bright white. Slowly, I lower both of my hands to the holes in his shoulder, and a pale blue energy encases them. In the back of my mind I recognize that numerous soldiers and military personnel have arrived, but I focus on the task ahead of me. I can feel in my mind as the muscle and tissue slowly knits itself back together, and then the skin. After what feels like an eternity but was really only two minutes, my eyes return to normal, the blue glow recedes, and I sit back. I can hear six different people gasp, four besides Alphonse and Edward, and look around at the crowd that has gathered. Around us stand Hughes, Armstrong, Roy, and the blond woman that is always by Roy's side.

"How did you-" Alphonse, Edward, Roy, Hughes, and the blond woman all mutter, only to be cut off by Armstrong.

"Impressive! I admire your skill in healing young lady!" Blushing lightly, I pull my hood up and stand, only to have my exit blocked by Roy.

"Do you have anything to do with the pile of items around the Freezer, and his condition?" I nod. "Thank you."

We stayed at Hughes's house again that night. Edward sat himself on the bed closer to the window, with Alphonse sitting on the floor between the two beds, and I sat on the other one. We had been pretty much silent since I healed Edward, but I know that now there will be some talking.

Looking into my eyes, Edward says, "When we were little, our dad abandoned us and our mother eventually grew sick and died. We were young, and foolish, and alchemy prodigies. After spending a few years training with a woman named Izumi, we came home, and committed the ultimate sin. Even though all we wanted was to see her smile again, nothing can excuse the fact that we tried human transmutation to bring our mother back-and failed. I lost my leg," he pulled up his left pants leg enough to show me some of the metal, "and Al lost his whole body. I gave my arm to get him, and bonded his soul to this suit of armor. Since then, we've been searching for a way to get our original bodies back. I got my State Alchemist title when I was twelve. We've heard of this this-a Philosopher's Stone-that allows you to perform alchemy, ignoring the rules of equivalent exchange. If we could get one, I would be able to get Al his body back." As Edward tells me this, I can feel all of the emotions from his past, all of the guilt, anger, and all of the hope he had, and Alphonse has similar emotions as well. I don't know what to say.

"And yours, too," says Alphonse.

"Yeah," agrees Edward as he smiles at his brother. After a few moments of silence, the brothers turn back to me expectantly. Wondering what to tell them, I sigh and lower my hood.

"I was raised in a dimension called Azarath."

Immediately, Edward interrupts, "Dimension? As in another world?"

"Yes. Well, technically. If you use the term world to apply more loosely than a planet. This dimension was found a very long time ago by humans from another Earth, one where technology was advanced instead of alchemy."

"How many other worlds are there," asks Alphonse.

"I don't know for sure, but there are many. Azarath is a dimension made of a race of pacifist monks, and it's named after the Goddess Azar. Growing up, I was trained by them not to feel emotions-"

"That's terrible," Alphonse interrupted me again.

I go on as if he hadn't spoken, "Because if I do, my powers go out of control. If I feel some-anything-my powers will react. I was so shaken yesterday when meeting Elysia because I had never known emotions like hers; such raw, powerful emotions like those of a child, or even the love that the two of you hold for each other… I am an empath, meaning that I sense the emotions of those around me. If I don't keep my mental barriers up, those emotions can affect my own. The monks in Azarath were always calm, and while my mother was in the dimension also, I never really saw her. If I did see her, the emotions she held for me were akin to those you may hold for an acquaintance. I left Azarath only yesterday, and the portal I made was supposed to send me to the other Earth, but it sent me here instead." After I finish speaking, there is silence. The emotions coming from the brothers ranged from guilt to anger, but the largest one from both of them is pity. Finally, Alphonse speaks.

"I'm sorry."

"Just as you two don't want others to pity you; I don't want you to pity me. And I don't want you to feel any guilt when you have a strong emotion, either. I can handle it, and you need it." They both nod, and an awkward, heavy silence settles over the room. I spend it debating mentally whether to sleep or meditate. While I don't particularly need to sleep for a few more days so long as I meditate, my back and thigh muscles still ache from sitting so rigidly for so many hours. After around thirty seconds, I decide to sleep. "I'm going to sleep," I announce, simply to break the tension, and I remove my cloak and the golden belt inlaid with red gems. I kick off my boots and add them to the small pile next to the bed I am on before slipping under the covers and closing me eyes.

I can hear the smirk in Edward's voice as he says, "I thought you didn't sleep."

Opening one eye, I glance over at him as he removes his coat and shoes before also slipping under the covers of his bed. "Only occasionally," I respond as I suppress a smile of my own. Closing my eye again, I turn over onto my side and drift off into darkness.

**Yup, an Author's Note at the end, I ****am**** that tacky. Anyways, I just want to thank you, whoever you are who reads this, for reading, and ask you to please review! I will be posting more chapters soon, and I'm planning for them to be pretty much 1 chapter per episode, so I would work even faster than I already am to write more if you guys review! until next time!**


	2. Chapter 2

**It's only been a few days since I posted chapter one, and the two reviews it got made me too excited to wait any longer to post this… I feel a bit pathetic. I don't own anything you recognize, by the way!**

_**Chapter 2 of Stand in the Rain**_

The next day, after saying goodbye to the Hughes, Alphonse, Edward, and I boarded a train heading for a town called Lior, where rumors say there's a priest who performs miracles. Edward and Alphonse are becoming more and more convinced that he's either faking it or using a Philosopher's Stone, so we took the first train available. During most of the flight, Edward slept and I meditated.

The first thing I become properly aware of, pulling my out of my meditation is a hand on my shoulder. I open one my eyes and look at the hand before lowering myself down to the seat and relaxing my posture a bit. Edward takes his hand back as Alphonse speaks, "We've arrived at Lior."

After exiting the train station, we walk around for a bit, looking for a place to get Edward something to eat; I swear that boy has the appetite of at least two people. We've been walking for about a minute when Edward spots a little stand on the right side of the road. We walk over to it and Edward orders a few things, and I ask for a cup of tea.

As Edward eats and I sip my tea, the old man running the small store turns on his little radio. The voice coming from it is the small town's priest, and he's blathering on about the religion; I don't really listen, but I do notice that everyone in the little town seems to be listening; the amount of false hope that these people hold sickens me.

Just as Edward takes a sip from his bright orange drink (which I don't think is orange juice, but I may be wrong), the man behind the counter says, "So what are you guys, street performers or something?" This made Edward spit out his drink. What are street performers?

"Seriously," begins Edward with a glare, "do we look like street performers to you?"

"Yes," replies the man seriously, "that's why I asked." Of course that's why he asked, did Edward not catch that?

With an irritated sigh, Edward says, "Let's go," and gets up from his stool. When Alphonse stands from his stood, his head bumps into the top of the stand where the man had set his radio, and it falls to the ground and breaks. I just watch, having a feeling there's about to be something interesting, as I sip my tea.

"Hey," cries the man, "easy, I didn't mean nothin' by it!"

"Sorry," says Edward, trying to placate the man and the crowd of onlookers that was beginning to form, "It was an accident; we'll fix it!"

"How's that, it's smashed to hell?" Has this man never seen alchemy? I thought it was common in this country.

Alphonse has already begun drawing the circle as Edward says, "Watch and learn, gramps."

"Okay, here it goes," says Alphonse as he places his hands on the circle. With a poof and some blue sparks, the radio is fixed and blaring out the religious broadcast again.

"There, see? How's that," asks Edward. The crowd has grown more and they are all standing there in awe. Just like I thought…

"Amazing! It's a miracle! You've been touched by the sun god: just like Father Cornello!" The man is completely serious.

"Touched by who now," mumbles Edward.

"It's not a miracle," Alphonse explains, "it's alchemy!"

The crowd loses some of its awe and a man in a green shirt says, "Oh so you two are alchemists? Right, I've heard of them."

Edward perks up. "Then maybe you've heard of us; we're the Elric brothers!"

Thinking allowed, the man behind the counter says, "The Elric brothers you say? Wait, I do know you! The Fullmetal Alchemist, Edward Elric, is that right?" As the crowd surrounds Alphonse, thinking he's his brother, Edward is chuckling with his eyes closed and doesn't notice. I set my tea down and slip off of my chair, walking over to him.

I place a hand on Edwards head and yell loud enough that the crowd will hear me, "That's Alphonse, this shorty over here is the one you want!"

Edward had opened his eyes when I put my hand on his head, and now that everyone was looking at him in disbelief, he exploded. Well, figuratively. "YOU HAVE NO ROOM TO TALK, RAVEN! DON'T CALL ME SO SMALL YOU NEED A MICROSCOPE TO SEE ME!"

Removing my hand from his head, I step back and say, "You are short, get over it."

He's so angry now that he claps his hands and places them on the ground, sending six, pointy projectiles at me. My eyes glow white and I spread my hands out in front of my, making a shield from my black energy. When the projectiles hit it, they crumble. Dropping the energy, my eyes return to normal and I glare at him. He forgets his anger.

Now though, the crowd has gotten over their disbelief that someone so short is the Fullmetal Alchemist, and are all pointing at me and exclaiming things about their god touching my life. I stare at them for a moment, unsure what to do, when Alphonse interrupts the crowd, "Oh no, she wasn't touched by your sun god either, she's just Raven! She just kinda has powers!"

Eventually, they give up their fascination. Once they grow quiet, Edward asks, "So what's up with this guy on the radio?"

"Oh, that's our leader, Father Cornello," says one man.

Another chimes in, "We were lost before he came to town and began teaching us all the ways of the sun god, Lito."

"He grants eternal life to the souls of the faithful," says a third man.

"He can even resurrect the dead! His miracles are proof that what he says is true," says one more man. These men are so sure of this Father Cornello man… I pity them.

"So," begins Edward, "this guy is claimin' he can bring the dead back to life? Now that's somethin' I gotta see."

Later that day, we find ourselves in the back of a massive crowd. The whole town gathers to watch Father Cornello perform miracles, or speak, or something. Edward is standing on his suitcase so he can see, while I simply levitate so that I'm at his new height.

The man at the front, Father Cornello, catches a falling rose in his hand and uses alchemy to create a flower design on the Leto statue behind him, and a silver sash on himself with the same flower design.

"So that's it, huh," begins Edward, "What'd'ya think?"

"There's nothing to think! That's alchemy, no doubt about it," says Alphonse.

"But somehow he's ignoring the law of Equivalent Exchange," says Edward, "He should've only been able to transmute that flower into an object of equal mass!"

"And he's changing organic matter into inorganic matter; he shouldn't be able to do that! Unless…" Alphonse seems to be thinking aloud.

"Yea, there's just one way," says Edward. I can barely see from way back here, but it's clear enough. The little red stone on Father Cornello's ring must be a Philosopher's Stone.

After the crowd had dispersed, we are still here. "You're going to go confront him," I say.

Edward smiles at me, "Of course!"

"Have fun. I'm going to go find a library or something," I say, turning away from them and walking toward the town, "Come find me when you're done."

"Have fun," calls Alphonse as I walk away.

I walk into the center of the town and turn a random direction, hoping I'll find somewhere where I can read this way. There are many small shops for almost anything, and the stories above the shops in the buildings seem to be where the owners live. I walk for barely five minutes before finding a store called 'Books of the Ages'. I enter it and begin looking through the shelves for something on alchemy. It doesn't take long, and I sit down in a corner of the shop with 'The History of Alchemy' in my hands, and begin reading.

I am almost halfway through the book when the radio interrupts me. It's Edward's voice, and I realize that he's revealing Cornello as the fraud he is.

"Look, can we just cut the crap and talk here? All I want are some straight answers about the stone; tell me what I need to know, and I'll be on my way. Or, we could get the military involved." Then, I can hear Cornello growling angrily, before sighing.

"Ask your questions." Confusion ripples through the tow as people begin to doubt what's going on, doubt Father Cornello. It's working.

"You could do anything with the Philosopher's Stone, right," begins Edward, "So why waste all that power performing phony miracles?"

Cornello sounds rather evil when he responds, "Because with each miracle I can attract new believers to the order; believers who would lay down their lives for my sake! I'm slowly building an army, a legion of holy warriors, unafraid to die! In a few more years, I'll be ready to unleash this mindless horde upon the world! And I'll use the Philosopher's Stone to tear this country apart. Who knows, I might even carve out a slice for you," Cornello begins laughing at this part, a laugh even creeps me out a bit. But then, Edward joins in the laughing. "Wait, what are you laughing about," asks Cornello.

"I knew it, you really are a novice, aren't you," says Edward, and I assume he's showing the man that he's been broadcasting the conversation.

"Urgh-why you-! How long? How long has that been on?"

"From the start," says Edward calmly, "Your believers heard every word."

"How could you? You'll pay dearly for this!" Then come the sounds of alchemy. I jump to my feet, running from the shop. Once out of the shop, I begin flying through the streets at full speed, trying to get to Edward to help. As I fly, I can hear the broadcast continue.

"Sorry, not today," says Edward. I hear more alchemy and the sound of metal clattering. Cornello gasps. "Just face it: you're outclassed here."

"I AM WITHOUT RIVAL," screams Cornello and I can hear more alchemy. I'm almost there, just a couple hundred more yards. But where in the church are they?

The Cornello gasps and sounds as if he's choking on something. "A rebound," gasps Edward. What?

"No," cries Cornello, "I won't be disgraced like this! Now boy," his voice begins changing and I have a feeling he's casting alchemy upon himself, "Behold, the chosen emissary of the sun got Leto!" I enter the front doors of the church and stop. Edward is running full-speed for the exit with his clothing torn. The wall behind him explodes and out comes what I think used to be Cornello, which is now a giant, mutated thing. He strikes, Edward flips back, and he strikes again, forcing Edward to hold back his fist with all of his strength. "My word is the divine word of god himself; my fist is the almighty fist of judgment!"

Edward pushes his fist away briefly and runs toward the massive Leto statue saying, "Oh yea? Fist of god, huh?" He claps and places his hands on the statue, "Well if that's what you want, you can have it!" From the hand of the statue emerges a giant fist which pins Cornello to the ground.

Edward places both hands on either side of Cornello's face and smashes his head into the thing's nose, breaking it. "Just give me the Philosopher's Stone!"

Then, the stone dims and falls to the ground before breaking into dust and blowing away. "What the hell," mutters Edward, "the stone… It's supposed to be perfect material, how did it just break like that?"

Pathetically, Cornello cries, "I-I don't know! I don't know anything about it! Spare me, please! I was wrong, please, I beg you!"

Standing, Edward sighs, "It's a damn fake."

"Please don't," cries Cornello, "I'm helpless without the stone! Spare me, please!"

"You mean we went through all this, risked our lives for this one possible chance, and it's a fake," says Edward. I feel the urge to console him, but I don't move from when I am, watching, just in front of the front doors.

"So, uh, what about me," says Cornello, sounding like he's about to kiss up to Edward.

"I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU DO, JUST GET OUT OF HERE!" yells Edward. Frightened, Cornello crawls away as fast as he can. Slowly, I walk up to Edward, stopping when I'm a few feet in front of him.

"It was a fake," he sighs.

"I know," I respond, and we say nothing more until Alphonse arrives. Together, we all walk outside to the front of the building, with Edward answering all of Alphonse's questions.

"And what about the stone?"

"Phony, just like him."

"Oh."

"I'm sorry Al," says Edward as he knocks once on Alphonse's stomach, "for a moment there I thought we were really gonna get your body back."

Before Alphonse can respond, a female voice cries, "Give me the Philosopher's Stone!"

Edward and Alphonse turn around, revealing a woman with dark hair, red bangs, and a white dress standing there, shakily holding a gun at the boys. I narrow my eyes a bit, wondering who she is, but the brother seem to recognize her. "Rose," gasps Alphonse.

"Like I was just sayin'," begins Edward, "It was a fake; it wasn't real." The desperation, depression, and other emotions coming from the woman are overwhelming and I have to adjust my emotional barriers yet again. "Besides, it's shattered now."

"Liar," cries the woman desperately, "You want to keep it for yourself, don't you? So you can use it on your bodies! That's right! And so you can try to bring your mother back again!"

At the last part, Edward seems to explode again, and the woman's emotions are reflected dully in him, "You shut up!" He's so sad, I wonder how he's still standing, how he's not shaking like the woman, or curling up on the pavement and crying his eyes out. But there's the drive in him, the emotion I couldn't place when he told me of their past. He's determined. "People don't come back from the dead Rose, ever. Not ever."

And she breaks. She falls first to her knees, and then is holding herself up with her hands, "But he promised me… He said if I prayed it would happen! He… That hope was all I have left, what am I supposed to believe in now? Tell me what to do!" Tears stream down her face, and Edward and Alphonse begin walking. I follow them.

We completely pass Rose as she cries on the ground before Edward says, "I can't tell you that, you have to figure it out. Stand up and walk. Keep moving forward. You've got two good legs, so use them. You're strong enough to make your own path." And we leave.

**I hope whoever reads this enjoys! Please review, it makes me work harder to write more and post quicker, and it brightens my day!**


	3. Chapter 3

_****I don't own FMAB or Teen Titans, no suing__ please_!

_**Chapter 3 of Standing in the Rain**_

After a long train ride and an uneventful night in a hotel, we head into command to check in with Roy, though when I referred to him with that name, Edward found endless amusement and insisted I call him Mustang instead. Entering the office, no one seems to notice us until Edward fixes a radio with alchemy.

"Hey, it's Edward and Alphonse," says the man who has the radio.

"Welcome back boys," interrupts the blond woman, "Go on in, the Colonel is expecting you." This made Edward groan, but he led Alphonse and I into the separate office anyway. Once inside, I shifted into the shadows in the corner by the door and Edward and Alphonse sat on one of the couches in the center.

"Well done on the Lior case, you two, nice work. I appreciate you resolving the matter," says Mustang.

"No problem, it's not like we did it for you," sighs Edward.

"Right," replies Mustang, "The Philosopher's Stone: another false lead?" Edward and Mustang seem to have a staring match before Edward nods and sits back.

"Yeah, after all of that the stone was a fake. Even so, the power it gave Cornello was real enough. He transmuted this huge chimera right in front of us." He sounds bitter at this, but endlessly curious at the same time.

"I still wonder how he was able to use the stone to do that," says Alphonse, "I'm not familiar enough with the field of bio-alchemy to really understand it."

"Yeah, I'm kinda curious about that too," agrees Edward, "It might be worth looking into. Who knows? Maybe we'll find something that could help us restore our bodies."

"It might help if you consulted a specialist," says Mustang as he reaches into a drawer in his desk. He pulls out a file and places it where the brothers can see, "The Sewing-Life Alchemist, Shou Tucker: He's done some heavy research into chimera transmutation. I'll introduce you."

"You would do that for us,?" asks Alphonse, but his brother cuts him off.

Jumping out of his seat and pointing at Mustang accusingly, he cries, "Okay, what's the catch; you want something, don't you?!"

Leaning forward angrily, Mustang shouts, "Don't doubt my motives; I'm trying to repay you for your work on the Lior case!" This makes Edward relax a little, and Mustang smirks as he continues, "Doing you a favor is better than being indebted to you." So we left for Shou Tucker, the Sewing Life Alchemist.

"Two years ago, Tucker transmuted a chimera that was capable of human speech. That earned him his state title," explained Mustang as we rode in the car. Mustang is sitting across from Alphonse and I am next to him, across from Edward. I find myself pressing against the side of the car for personal space.

"Wait, you mean it talks," cries Edward, "a chimera?!"

"Right," says Mustang, "Supposedly, it only said one thing: 'I want to die.' After that, it refused to eat until it got its wish." Horror is pouring from Edward and Alphonse at this, but I am unsurprised. Any creature that is capable of speech is capable of thought, emotions, and feeling. It would have no trouble coming up with a way to end the pain it was surely in. But, to be capable of speech… it would have to be made of at least one thing capable of speech. But would someone really do that?

As the ride continued, Mustang apparently felt the need to break the tension. Looking over at me, he said, "You can relax, you know; I promise I won't bite." and he put an arm around my shoulders, pulling me closer to him.

Apparently, according to Edward and Alphonse, the look on my face was something akin to paralyzing terror and bloodlust. I understand the second one, as I felt the urge to tear his arm off for touching me, instead settling on glaring at him until he removed it himself.

Soon after that, when Edward and Alphonse had finally stopped laughing, we arrived. Walking up to the front steps, I stayed in Alphonse's shadow. Mustang rang the bell by the door.

"Man, this house is huge," says Edward. Suddenly, a large white dog comes bounding up, leaping through the air and landing happily on Edward.

"Are you okay?" asks Alphonse as he wonders what he can do to help his brother who is now trapped beneath the giant dog.

The door opens, revealing a little girl with two braids who says, "Daddy, there are people here!"

A man appears behind her, and I assume he is her father, Shou Tucker. "Nina, this is why I told you to keep the dog tied up." What, tied up? How could… Oh, that's commonplace in most worlds, I forgot.

Tucker calls the dog and he jumps up off of Edward. Alphonse helps him up and we walk inside. It's a mess in here, cobwebs and clutter are everywhere and dirty dishes are piled high in the sink. "I'm sorry about the mess," says Tucker, "Ever since my wife ran out, this place has been a wreck. I'm not much of a housekeeper." As he spoke, we all sat around the table (I made sure to sit by Edward instead of Mustang) and he handed us each a cup of tea before sitting across from us at the table with his own cup. "Now that we're all settled in, let me tell you that it's a pleasure to meet you Edward. As the Colonel told you, I'm the Sewing Life Alchemist, Shou Tucker."

"Ed is interested in the field of biological alchemy," begins Mustang, "he would like to have a look at your research."

"Oh yes, certainly," responds Tucker, "I don't mind. However, if you want me to show you the tricks I've got up my sleeve, it's only fair you show me the tricks you've got up yours as well. It's the code we live by: Equivalent Exchange. Now, why are you interested in bio-alchemy?"

"Oh, uh, Ed, well, you see, he's-" Mustang struggles to find the words, but Ed cuts him of.

"Colonel." Then he explained to Tucker what he and his brother had done to end up like they are, taking off his coat and top shirt to reveal his automail arm. It's a long and painfully awkward conversation, and I pretend I'm not there as Edward's emotions from the other night are brought to the surface again.

"You transmuted your mother, as an eleven-year-old child? I see, so that's what earned you the title Fullmetal Alchemist. You've had a rough time of it for someone so young." Edward sits back in his chair now. Standing, Tucker says, "I can't say if it's going to be of any use for you or not, but why don't you take a look at my laboratory?" He leads us to a room back farther in the house. Once inside, I can see the walls lined with cages and jars full of animals that have been twisted together and sewn roughly-like-like cloth and not living creatures! Disgust builds up in my throat like bile and my eyes flash white. The light bulb in the hallway explodes. Edward, Alphonse, and Mustang look at me with concern, Tucker with sickening curiosity, and I wave them off. As they go to look at the vials and books on the shelves on the left wall, Mustang and I walk toward the cages. Mustang's face is unreadable and his emotions are confused, but he holds that disgust in him too. I kneel down on the floor in front of the cages, looking into the eyes of all of the animals Shou Tucker has ruined. Tucker is telling Edward and Alphonse about his struggles to create something impressive, but I tune them out mostly.

I can feel them. The animals: I can feel their pain and depression, their desperation to go back to the way they were, to run, _to die_. I can feel their emotions, and it's suffocating me! I can barely feel the tears pricking at my eyes as I struggle not to scream. I want to help these poor animals, even if that would mean ending their existence: I want, as much as they do, to stop their pain. In the back of my mind I recognize that the others have gone silent as the watch me. Slowly, I lift my hand up and lock eyes with the three-headed one right in front of me. It stops biting the cage and stares back at me. I can feel it pleading silently for someone to even recognize its pain.

"I know," I whisper as I slip my hand through the bars of the cage and place it on one of the heads. The creature leans into my touch, and I let my eyes stray to the other creatures as I gently rub the first one's head. "I know," I whisper again. I can barely control my anger at Shou Tucker for doing this to these animals. I want to scream, lash out, and tear him apart slowly… And I don't want these creatures to see me do it. My eyes flash white once more and a vial of something from the shelves explodes.

A gentle hand on my shoulder makes me pull my hand back from the cage and look up. Mustang is there, his eyes full of understanding. I stand up and turn away from the chimeras and Mustang lets go of me. Edward and Alphonse are there, and they don't seem to understand as well as Mustang, but they're still there. Tucker, who I can barely look at without losing control again, is watching me with calculating eyes. I promise myself that I will tell him exactly what I think of this, after Edward and Alphonse get what they want from him.

We leave the room then, and Tucker leads us to a library farther back in his house. As he turns on the light, Edward exclaims, "Whoa… Amazing!"

"This is my library," says Tucker, "feel free to look around."

"Alright, let's dive in! I'll start with this shelf!" Edward reaches up and begins pulling books down.

"I'll try starting over here," responds Alphonse.

"I'm going to head back to work now," begins Mustang, "I'll send somebody by to get you this evening."

Edward and Alphonse don't even seem to hear him. "They've got some ability to focus," says Tucker, "I'm not sure they even know we're here anymore! Quite a catch, these two: a couple of prodigies…"

As he walks out of the door, Mustang says to me, "Raven, a word before I leave." I nod mutely and follow him. He leads me through the house and into the front room before speaking, "What exactly was that earlier?"

"I'm an empath," I explain shortly, "I can feel the emotions of others, including those chimeras. You saw them, Mustang. You know as well as I do what he did to those poor creatures. And I know you've been thinking about his speaking chimera. Not only what it said, but how it was made."

He stays silent for a moment before saying, "Keep these thoughts to yourself; don't share them with Fullmetal and his brother. As far as that chimera… let's hope we're both wrong."

"But what if we're not? What if he makes one again, what then?"

Mustang narrows his eyes before handing me a slip of paper. On it was an address, "This isn't the place. Come see me tonight after you and the brothers leave here, alone." I nod once, and Mustang leaves. I fist my hand around the paper before walking back to Tucker's library and sitting down next to where Alphonse has settled. With the paper still in my fist, I raise myself up in the lotus position and begin meditating.

The next thing I'm aware of is the giggling of Nina Tucker as she watches Alphonse. I watch silently as he picks her up and sets her on his shoulders, pretending to be some sort of horse. She giggles continuously. It doesn't take long for Edward to find them.

"Whoohoo, way up high," laughs Alphonse as he plays with the girl.

"Al," exclaims Edward, "What are you doing? You're supposed to be reading!"

"Uh, Nina looked like she wanted to play," he responds, leaning over slightly which made Nina laugh again.

"Well in case you forgot, we didn't come here to play horsey!" Edward didn't notice until it was too late that the dog was once again leaping at him.

"Alexander says that he wants to play too," explains the little girl as the dog, who is lying on Edward, licks Edward's head and pants.

"That's what you want, is it," begins Edward as he gets up. "You've bested me twice, dog, but play time is over." Suddenly, he begins yelling and chasing the dog, "I WILL NOT LOSE THIS TIME! I, EDWARD ELRIC, WILL USE MY CONSIDERABLE POWERS TO VANQUISH YOU! MANGY MUTT!"

This made Nina giggle again.

A few hours later, Edward is yet again trapped under the dog and Nina is on top of the dog.

"Hey Chief," begins a man that had been in Mustang's office earlier, "Your ride has arrived." I think his name is Havoc. "What are you up to down there, Ed?"

"Let's just say I'm taking a break from a long day of research," groans Edward as he gets up.

"After all that, you must be dog-tired," says Tucker, and Edward gets a lot angrier. Tucker laughs before saying, "Why don't you come on back tomorrow?"

"Are you really going to come again," Nina asks Alphonse excitedly. I am so glad that the child and the dog had seemed to not notice me this whole time.

Alphonse, always kind, responds, "We'll play some more tomorrow, 'kay Nina?"

"Okay!" responds the girl.

As we leave, Havoc turns back to face Tucker at the door. "Oh, Tucker, I almost forgot: I've got a message for you from the Colonel. He says: Don't forget, assessment day is coming soon."

"Yes, please assure him I know," responds Tucker.

"Right," says Havoc as he turns to leave. I wonder what assessment day is…

Havoc drove us straight to the hotel, and the ride was mostly silent. As we pull up in front of the building and Edward and Alphonse exit the car, I turn around in my seat and hand the paper from Mustang to Havoc. "Can you take me to that address?"

"What-" begins Edward, but Havoc cuts him off.

"Why'd the colonel give you his home address, kid?"

"Can you take me there," I ask again. I can feel all of their confusion, but Havoc nods anyway. Turning to Edward and Alphonse who are about to climb back in the car, I shake my head. I tell them, "I'll come back here when I'm done." With that, I shut the door to the car, and Havoc drives off.

It doesn't take long for us to arrive at the small house on the edge of town that the address belongs to. Opening the door and sliding out of the vehicle, I call back to Havoc, "Thank you." Shutting the car door, I walk up to the door of the building, knocking twice.

When he opens the door, I'm mildly surprised to see Mustang wearing a pair of black pants, a green t-shirt, and no shoes. I shouldn't be surprised though, he can't be expected to wear his military uniform all of the time. I can still feel Havoc's confusion as Mustang leads me in wordlessly and shuts the door.

"I'm glad you could come," he begins somewhat sarcastically, "Want something to drink?"

I watch as he moves to his kitchen, getting himself something alcoholic. "Do you have tea?" He nods and fills a kettle with water, setting it on the stove to heat up.

"Tell me what you think about Shou Tucker," he says as he sits down on one of two chairs in the front room. I sit on the other one.

"He doesn't seem to have any moral inhibitions. The pain of the animals, their cries and screaming, it doesn't seem to even make him flinch. He probably has something to justify it, but he's just like every other psychopath out there."

"Psychopath," he repeats with a bit of dark amusement, "I've never connected him to that word before."

"You've never felt his emotions," I respond shortly. He nods to show he agrees with my point.

"What do you think about his chimera-specifically the one that spoke?" He narrows his eyes as he asks this. I don't respond for a while, and in the silence the kettle whistles. He pours some water into a mug and sets a bag of leaves in it before handing it to me. I hold it gently, waiting for it to seep, as I speak.

"If a human has the higher brain power necessary for speech-and language-then it would follow that something with a human brain, among other human parts, would have that ability also. And someone so skilled at creating chimeras from other creatures would be able to tell you also that animals and humans are not so extremely different. If he can combine a monkey and a fox, why wouldn't he be able to combine one more mammal with them?" I say this with a false calm, hiding my disgust as it swells once more.

"Not many people have been able to understand this so well as you, Raven, even after having it explained to them. How old are you?" I am slightly surprised again when he asks this, but I answer honestly,

"Fifteen." He nods, and everything's silent for a moment. I sip the tea in my hands. "What are we going to do?"

"I'll take care of it," says Mustang. I narrow my eyes at him.

"Not alone, you won't. I have a few things to say to Tucker." He takes in my expression and laughs once.

"Alright, fine. If it's possible, I'll give you a few minutes alone with him." Mustang pauses before he continues more seriously, "Listen to me, Raven. You may be smart, and you may be powerful, but you're just a kid. You've got your whole life ahead of you, and I won't let you corrupt yourself now." His words, naïve and kind as they are, make a bitter smirk form on my face.

"That's what you think."

I stayed at his house for maybe five more minutes, and neither of us said anything important in that time. Opening the door for me, he says, "Take care of yourself, and those boys. For me." I nod and step out the door, taking into the air before he even closes it. It doesn't take me long to find my way back to the hotel. Instead of bothering with the front door, I enter through the window of the room that we are all staying in.

"Raven?" asks Alphonse as I close the window behind me.

"Why did you go see Mustang," inquires Edward suspiciously.

I sit on the bed I was in last night, the one closer to the window, and take a deep breath before responding, "He wanted to know more about my origins. I didn't tell him anything."

I can tell that they are still a bit curious, but they both buy into my lie easily. It makes me feel a bit sick to do this to them, but if I tell them about my suspicions, they would stop their research, which could potentially mean stopping them from finding a way to get their bodies back. I can't do that to these boys.

The next day, after the brothers had researched and I had meditated for a few hours, we are sitting in the library with Nina and Alexander, surprisingly deep in conversation for having it with a girl who's maybe six years old.

"Your mother left two years ago," repeats Alphonse as if he doesn't quite understand what he'd heard.

"Daddy said she went back to live at her parent's house," confirms Nina.

"It must get lonely with just you and your dad livin' in this big house, huh?" asks Alphonse.

"Mm-mm, not really," says Nina as she leans into Alexander. He's a very good dog, surprisingly calm and very loyal. He is always close by Nina, completely loyal to her; protecting her. Hugging the dog's head, she says, "Daddy's so nice, and plus, I've got Alexander to play with too!" Growing more somber now, Nina continues, "But lately Dad has been studying in his lab all the time. I guess that does make me a little bit lonely…"

Slamming his book closed and standing, Edward yawns and says, "My shoulders are killin' me!"

"Maybe you should try to move around some, brother," suggests Alphonse.

"Yea, not a bad idea, Al," says Edward. Suddenly, he points at Alexander, grabbing the dog's attention. "Hey, you mangy mutt!" The dog barks and perks up to show he's listening. "Looks like you could use some exercise!"

Alphonse laughs lightly and says, "Let's go too, Nina!" In no time at all, Nina is riding Alexander like a horse, chasing Edward around the yard of the house, giggling like mad. Alphonse and I watch from the shade of the tree, and I can feel how much happier the boys and even Nina are than they've been in a long time. Nina uses Alphonse's back as a slide a few times, and Alexander keeps landing on Edward. As I watch them from the shade of the tree, I find I don't mind that their emotions keep spilling over my mental walls and almost making me blow things up, because it's so… happy. So normal. I don't think I've ever really felt this happy, or felt so many people around me that are so happy in my life.

That day, as the sun sets, I am standing in the shadowy corner of the room and watching as Tucker and the brothers talk, and Nina lays on the floor with Alexander nearby.

"Before I earned my state alchemist certification, our life was terrible," says Tucker, "We were so poor in those days. My wife couldn't stand living that kind of life, so she left us. I can't afford to fail this assessment; I don't want to go back to those days again; I don't even think I could."

"Don't worry Daddy, it's okay," interrupts Nina, "even if those people do say no, me and Alexander will growl at them until they say yes!"

Alphonse and Edward laugh lightly and Alphonse says, "You tell 'em, Nina!"

Suddenly, Tucker's emotions brighten immensely. "Hey Nina, I've got an idea, do you want to play with Daddy tomorrow?" His tone, his emotions, his facial expression… I barely suppress of visible shiver of fear at the man and tell myself I'm reading too much into it all, that I'm imaging the knife-like edge to his sadistically joyous emotions.

"Really," gasps Nina, her face lighting up with joy.

"Yeah," confirms Tucker. Nina cries out with happiness and lets go of Alexander, flinging herself into the air and onto her father.

"Alexander, Daddy says he's going to play with us tomorrow," the girl tells the dog, who barks in response. Everyone else in the room is so happy at this, but my chest won't unclench no matter what I tell myself to explain this properly.

When I go to bed that night, I can't suppress the idea that I should've told Mustang.

The next morning, when we ring the bell at Tucker's door, no one gets it. "Hello Mister Tucker, thanks for having us again today," calls Alphonse as he opens the door. No response, and the house is dark. All of the wisps of feelings that I usually have to hold back fall away, replaced only by an empty curiosity as I follow Edward and Alphonse through the house. "Mister Tucker!"

"Hey, Nina," calls Edward.

We eventually find Mr. Tucker in his lab, and it's so dark. He's kneeling over something white, and fluffy, with brown…

NO!

I stay still, silent in the doorway as I wait for the brothers to figure it out too. The empty curiosity is gone too, now, and I'm just empty inside. Nothing to repress, nothing to wall against. Empty, filled hollowly with endless questions.

How could he?! How could a man do such a thing to his own daughter? Why would someone as sweet as Nina be forced into such a life?

How did Nina's father become so like my own?

"There you are," says Edward, "So you are home!" Tucker turns around to face us, his glasses reflecting the light so that I can't see his eyes. I can't seem to feel any of their emotions. The world is void of emotions… Only questions remain.

"Yes," replies Tucker in an odd voice. "I did it boys, I finally did it: a chimera that understands human speech. Here, let me show you!" He kneels down and looks right at the chimera and says, "Listen to me: That person over there, that's Edward. "

In a small, off-pitch, layered voice, the chimera responds, "That person… Edward."

"Yes, that's very good, well done," replies Tucker as he rubs its head.

"That's amazing," says Edward, kneeling down also, "it can actually talk!"

Tucker laughs as he stands up and says, "Now I don't have to worry about losing my certification!"

The chimera turns its head, using its empty eyes to look right at Edward. "That person… Edward… That person… Edward… That person, Edward… Big brother Ed!" Edward gets it now, too. I can dimly feel his shock, outrage, and disgust. He's frozen too, and I think he can hear those questions in my head; I think maybe they're in his head too-except for the last one.

Slowly, he says, "Mister Tucker, when did you first get your state certification?"

Tucker, from where he's been standing, staring at me since the chimera began talking for the second time with curiosity in his eyes, responds, "Let's see… it was two years ago."

"And when did your wife leave you?"

Tucker knows for sure now that Edward knows. "That was two years ago too." Slowly, the emptiness is leaving me, being filled with a pure rage instead. Any moment now, my second pair of eyes will show. I can tell that if something doesn't happen soon, nothing will stop me from dragging this man out of poor, innocent Nina's sight and killing him slowly.

"I just have one more question for you," begins Edward, "Nina and Alexander," he turns around to face Tucker, "where are they?!" And it clicks for Alphonse. I grit my teeth, arms shaking as I struggle to suppress my emotions once more. I can't let go now, when Nina, Edward, and Alphonse can see me. I can't. But I want so badly to give all of the souls that Tucker has ruined revenge.

"Damn brat, figuring it out so quickly," mutters Tucker, and Edward lunges for him, grabbing him by the throat and slamming him against the wall. Alphonse's exclamation is ignored.

"Oh yea, I figured it out, you did it again! Two years ago it was your wife; this time, you used your own daughter and her dog to transmute a talking chimera! You can only do so much with animals, after all! It's much easier when you start with a human, ISN'T THAT RIGHT?!"

"I don't see what you're so upset about," rasps Tucker, "this is how we progress. Human experimentation is a necessary step! I would think a scientist would understand-"

"SHUT UP! Do you really think you can get away with this? Messing around with someone's life like that! Your own daughter!"

"Someone's life you say? Haha, you'd know all about that, wouldn't you?! Look at you, Fullmetal Alchemist! Look at your leg, your arm! Your brother! Those things are also the result of 'messing around with somebody's life' aren't they?!"

"SHUT UP!" Edward's fist smashes into Tucker's face and his glasses go flying off, breaking on impact with the ground. I can feel Nina's emotions so brightly and clearly now, and she's so afraid for her father.

Her father, a bastard that deserves the bloody death that Edward is making a step in providing.

Her father, a single, simple human that reminds me painfully of my own.

Her father, a thing with no soul and no sense.

Her father, who used her and abused her… And she is worried for him.

Tucker laughs, "We are the same! We're the same! You're just like me!"

"We're not!"

"Oh, but yes we are! The opportunity was right in front of us and we took it! We had to, even though we knew it was against the rules!"

"NO," cries Edward as he begins to beat Tucker. "Not me! Alchemists don't do that! I'm not!" Just as Edward pulls his arm back for another punch, Alphonse grabs it.

"Brother! If you keep this up, he'll die!" There's a tense silence before Edward sees Nina staring at him sadly.

"Edward, no. Daddy… Do you… hurt… Daddy?"

I don't pay much attention as Alphonse consoles Nina and Edward breaks Shou Tucker's watch. I spend the next five minutes with my eyes closed and leaning against the hallway wall in front of the doors to the lab, biting back my anger at the fact that Shou Tucker is still alive. When I open my eyes, Edward is standing directly in front of me. "You figured it out, didn't you," he asks sadly.

I look right into his eyes as he continues, "You saw, this whole time you saw Shou Tucker for what he is, and you didn't say anything. You wanted us to continue our research, didn't you? But you saw how evil he is." I pull my hood up, but I don't answer what he asked. Sudden, senseless rage pervades my senses "Why didn't you say anything?!"

"I'll see you back at the hotel," I say as I walk into the shadows down the hall. Once the shadows completely cover me, I used my black energy to make a small portal, and exit it in the dark of the silent hotel. Walking over to my bed, I raise myself up in the lotus position in the air, and begin meditating.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos. Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos…"

**Thank you, kitsunelover300 for inspiring me to get past my writer's block. And thank you to bloodyrose234, I-Love-FMAxFMAB, Alchemists19, and that one guest for reviewing :D I sincerely hope that this chapter is satisfactory (and not **_**too**_** long) for you all, at the very least!**

**Adios!**


	4. Chapter 4

_**Chapter 4 of Standing in the Rain**_

Late that night, after Edward and Alphonse had come back to the room, soaked from the rain, and Edward had fallen into a fitful sleep, I gave up meditating to sleep also. Now, as I sit up rigidly in bed, gasping for air and sweating profusely, I regret that choice. I shove the nightmare from my thoughts as best I can and wait for my breathing to return to normal.

"Are you alright," whispers Alphonse, trying not to wake his brother. I nod, standing slowly from my bed and walking to the bathroom attached to our room. Twenty minutes later, I walk out in only my leotard, using a towel to dry my hair. Edward, who has been tossing and turning as much as I was earlier, wakes up now, gasping and sweating.

"Are you alright, Brother?" Alphonse says aloud. Edward doesn't respond, curling into his body for comfort. I take special care to make sure all of my emotional barriers are strong as I get dressed. I watch Edward and Alphonse out of the corner of my eye as I tie my belt loosely around my waist and slide the blue cuffs on my wrist. Edward is getting dressed too now, I notice as I clasp my cloak around my shoulders and slide on my boots.

It's barely six a.m. and raining heavily when we arrive at the military headquarters. Edward hesitates before knocking on the door to Mustang's office, and the blond woman, who I've learned to be Riza Hawkeye, opens it. "What's the matter, you guys? Why are you up so early?"

Slowly, Edward asks, "S-so, uh… What's going to happen to Nina and Tucker?"

The question seems to surprise Riza slightly, before she gets over that emotion and responds, "Mr. Tucker was scheduled to be of his certification and go to trial… but both of them are dead." If I had heard this yesterday, I shudder to think what I would have done, but I've already made my decision. I'm not aloud those little slips of emotion that have been my guilty pleasure since I met the brothers a few days ago. Today, and or the rest of my existence, I will have control. Still, I can't stop my chest from clenching unnoticeably and the slight change in my facial expression hidden beneath my hood.

"Dead?!" Alphonse repeats what she said, as if he doesn't believe he heard right. Edward gasps.

"You'll find this out eventually, anyhow, so I'll tell you now. They've been killed." Edward and Alphonse recoil in the shock, struggling to understand.

"H-how?! By who?!" Edward yells his questions at Riza as she walks away, following her.

"We don't know. I was just headed over to the scene myself."

"We're coming, too," says Alphonse.

"No," Riza tells them, "It's best you don't see this." The finality of her tone stops Edward from arguing the point, so she leaves. After a few moments, I follow Alphonse and Edward through the streets of the city, stopping when they sit on the base of a structure with pipes protruding from it near a river. I stand silently behind them, wrapped in my cloak with the hood pulled up against the rain, and watch as they let themselves get more and more soaked. They probably don't even notice the water.

After some time, Edward says, "I've been thinking for some time, what is the alchemy we believe in? 'Alchemy is knowing the laws and flow that exist in matter, its decomposition, and its reconstruction. The world also follows laws and has a flow, and everything circulates. The death of people is part of that flow. Except the flow.' That's what teacher would always say to us. I thought I understood it. But I don't understand. That's why we transmuted Mom. And now, I'm thinking again, isn't there something we can do about something we can't do anything about? I'm such and idiot; I haven't grown up at all since then. I thought the rain might wash away some of this gloom from me, but each drop that hits my skin is depressing."

"And since I don't have a body," begins Alphonse, "I can't even feel the rain hitting my skin. That's something I miss. It pains me. I really want to get my body back soon, and be human again. Even if it means going against the flow of the world, and it's something we can't do anything about."

At this point, I notice the man that has appeared before us, and how oddly sure the emotions coming from him are as he stares at Edward. Once Alphonse has finished speaking, he begins, and Edward finally sees him, "You are the Fullmetal Alchemist, Edward Elric, correct?" With a deep breath, the man raises his right arm.

Alphonse calls out to Edward, grabbing him bodily and pulling him away just as the man strikes. Finally coming to his senses, Edward transmutes four walls around the man and the structure I am leaning on. With a glare, I fly up over the walls and join the brothers. Alphonse apologizes for Edward, while the boy himself asks no one in particular, "What the hell…?"

Before anything else can be done the man blows a hole in the wall, and I quickly make a shield over Edward that stops the debris that was about to hit him. Edward and Alphonse both seem frozen in place so I grab Edward by his hood and yank him up from where he was sitting on the ground. "Run," cries out Edward as he turns and heads toward the stairs, away from the man. We all run as fast as we can and begin down the staircase, but the man jumps down blows it up in front of us. I am standing on the edge of what's left of the top of the staircase as my eyes glow white and my hands become encased in black energy, and I stop them both from falling by catching them in my powers.

I can feel the man's curiosity As he places his hand on the wall and blows up the staircase beneath me, forcing me to let go of the black energy holding the brothers up as I fall with them, landing on the second level down of stairs. "Al, grab on," says Edward as he claps, sending himself and his brother up on a pillar of cement. Before I can fly after them, the man explodes their pillar and they go tumbling down a sloped road. I run down it after them, knowing that the man is still following us.

"What's this about," cries Edward as we run, "making enemies is something I've never… really avoided, but there's no reason for anyone to try to kill me!" Edward leads our group down an alley as a shortcut between streets, but the man uses his alchemy to block off the exit. We stop dead and turn to face him. "Who are you? Why are you coming after us?"

"If there are 'creators' like you," he responds, "then there must also be 'destroyers.'" Well that's not cryptic.

"You're saying we have to fight, then," responds Edward as he forms a broken pole next to him into a dagger.

"You're gutsy," says the man with a grin as Alphonse and Edward charge at him, "but too slow." My eyes can barely follow the man's movements as he reaches out a hand and blows up Alphonse's stomach. Alphonse falls to the damp ground of our dank alley with a dull clang, bits of his arms scattering around with smaller tings.

"You bastard," yells Edward as he charges at the man once more, fury burning in his eyes. This time, the man catches Edward's automail arm. The attempt at alchemy throws Edward back a few steps, but it doesn't work, likely because the man thought the arm was flesh. Edward's jacket is now ruined, but he is unharmed.

As the man speaks, Edward pulls off his coat. "Automail? I see, so that's why bodily destruction doesn't injure you. You are an unusual one." Edward claps his hands in response and makes a blade from his metal arm.

"Brother, don't," says Alphonse, "you should run away!" Edward tells him no, not even considering the option, and the man speaks again,

"You press your hands together to make a ring, them perform transmutation, is that it? In that case…" This time, when Edward charges, the man catches his right arm, and blows it to pieces. "I will start by destroying this abhorrent right arm of yours!"

I thought I had my emotions in control today, I thought I could hold true to my resolution quite easily, but I can feel now that I was just in shock. Outrage rips through me as I watch the smallest piece of Edward's arm go tumbling into the road. I can suppress my anger well enough, but that distracts me for a few moments. When I've got my emotions in control and my vision is no longer a red haze, the man is standing over Edward as he tries to give his life easily so that the man won't harm Alphonse. I've wasted so much time with my weaknesses while the brothers needed me, a moment longer and the worst would have got true! Holding more tightly than ever before to my resolution, I force myself to obtain the last bit of control necessary for me to use my powers without killing everyone around me. "Azarath, Metrion, ZINTHOS," I cry as my eyes glow white and my hands become encased in black energy. They all turn to look at me from my sudden cry, and the man barely has time to dodge the four lamp posts I send at him. As I begin throwing more, heavier objects his way and while he dodges them, he begins speaking.

His tone is cruel and disgusted, and I mentally grip my emotions more tightly to keep my eyes from burning red. "What are you? You are not of Ishval's creation, with purple hair and eyes, and your pale skin, and your powers. What is this, and where do you come from?" I cry my mantra once again and the road comes up from around him, slamming together with him at the center. I pause for a moment, waiting for the emotions from him to show a sign that I had injured him. The pavement I had just encased him in all explodes, and instead of shielding myself, I turn around and put a shield over where Edward and Alphonse have come together at the mouth of the alley. It was an automatic reaction that I don't regret, as the shield catches several chunks of road that would have smashed the boys otherwise, but as I'm looking at the shield I place over them, an arm wraps around my waist and a hand is pressed on the back of my head. Tension rips through my body, forcing my muscles to become as stiff at a board in the awkward angle. I'm stuck like this, held in place by the strange man, and I find myself focusing on Edward and Alphonse, the way Alphonse screams and reaches out towards me, and the way Edward's eyes widen in horror. I can feel their horror, their immediate anguish at my position, and I wonder idly just how I could possibly be so important to them to elicit such as response when they are faced with the possibility of me dying in front of their eyes. If they knew, would they instead feel relief?

I slowly drop my shield over the boys, wondering why the man hasn't blown my brain to bits yet, when a familiar voice interrupts my thoughts, "Drop the girl, Scar!" I look out of the corner of my eye to see that we're now surrounded by military personnel. Where were they a moment ago? Mustang was the one that spoke, and he seems to be leading the men and women against Scar.

Scar seems to honestly consider his demand as he responds, "This so-called girl is an abomination, a sin, and an insult to God. I should kill her while I can." I can hear Edward yelling angrily, Alphonse speaking worriedly, but no one else moves. No one else makes a sound. My first instinct right now is to turn into my astral projection and leave this man's grip, but with him holding me so tight, I wouldn't be able to. And if I try to teleport, I would take him with me. I'm stuck.

I can feel the fingers of his hand on the back of my head flexing as he thinks, a strange heat building in my skull where his palm is pressed so firmly. His words sound sure, but I can feel his emotions. He's curious about me. But I wonder, wouldn't it be better for everyone in the long run if he were to kill me now? That way, when my sixteenth birthday comes, I won't be there to be the portal, and my father won't be able to leave his domain. I wouldn't have to live out my destiny.

"Go ahead," I say loudly, and I can feel the shock from everyone at my words, "kill me, if that's what you think your god would have you do." The Elric brothers are both shouting at me, and I can feel that Scar is about to go through with it, when someone fires a gun.

Scar loses some of his grip on me as he dodges it, and I break free of his hold and run out of his reach. I don't stop running until I'm standing half-behind Mustang, watching Riza fire two guns at the man. Mustang shoots me a worried glance, and I can tell he's slightly confused as to why I chose to come to him, but he keeps himself focused on Scar. The truth is, I'm not quite sure why I ran for Mustang; if I had to have predicted what I would've done before, I would've said I'd run for the Elric brothers. But standing here behind him, I feel safe; Scar scared me more than I care to admit.

I hear Scar make a threat to kill us all in the back of my mind, and begin actually paying attention when I hear another familiar voice yell, "Just try it!" Looking up, I watch as the baby-faced, muscular man, Armstrong, engages Scar in battle. They're both very fierce, and Armstrong seems to be destroying everything that I hadn't when I fought Scar. He 'demonstrates the artistic alchemy passed down the Armstrong line for generations' by punching a rock at Scar that becomes a fancy arrow head, which Scar narrowly avoids.

"Don't go destroying the city too much," shouts Havoc at Armstrong, whom I notice is kneeling down next to Edward and Alphonse with a few other officers.

"What are you talking about? Creation and destruction are two sides of the same coin!" Suddenly, Armstrong removes his shirt for no apparent reason and begins sparkling. "Destroy to create, such is the law of the universe!"

"Why did he strip down," mumbles Riza confusedly, voicing the question that is on everyone's mind.

"His logic is crazy," responds Havoc.

"He has no logic," I mumble just loud enough for Mustang to hear, who chuckles quietly in response.

"If you were an alchemist, like me, you wouldn't think it's so crazy," insists Armstrong, "Isn't that right, Scar?"

A wave of comprehension passes through everyone, and I can hear Edward saying that he stops at the 'deconstruction' stage of alchemy. This does make sense, in a way, but begs the question why Scar would then be so hypocritical as to kill State Alchemists. Also, the irony of the situation is not lost on anyone there. I voice my thoughts, "If he's an alchemist too, doesn't that mean he's turned his back on whatever the 'ways of god' are?"

"What's more," says Mustang, "Why is he only going after those with state certification?"

Armstrong and Scar are battling all-out again, though Scar is mostly being forced to dodge the flurry of 'artistic alchemy.' Soon enough, Armstrong backs him into a corner, swings wide, and backs up when Scar reaches in to attack him. In the moment of distraction Armstrong created, Riza takes her shots at Scar. He dodges most of them, but is grazed by one, knocking his dark glasses to the ground.

"Did you get him," asks Mustang when he sees blood.

"He's too fast," responds Riza, "I just grazed him with one shot."

Then, Scar looks up, and shock ripples through the soldiers. "Brown skin and red eyes," gasps Armstrong. I don't understand the importance of this, but everyone else seems to.

"He's an Ishvalan," says Mustang. Scar seems to be looking for an exit and Mustang begins, "Don't move, you can't slip out-"

He's cut off by the explosion Scar creates when he touches the ground. When the dust clears, the road has collapsed into the sewers where Scar was just a moment ago, and he's gone now.

"I'm sorry," says Mustang to Armstrong, "even after you bought us time to corner him."

"No. Far from buying time for you, it was all I could do to keep from getting killed," responds Armstrong. A voice behind them makes the two alchemists turn around.

"Oh, is it over?"

"Lt. Hughes," exclaims Armstrong, "where have you been?"

"Back taking shelter," he replies, stepping out from behind the car.

Annoyed, Mustang tells him, "You could back us up, or something!"

"Lay off! Don't go dragging a normal person like me into this freak show with you bunch of pseudo-humans!" He turns to the unnamed troops now and order, "Don't just stand around, we've got things to do, you know! Deploy troops through the city! Circulate his position!" As the soldiers run off to follow through with the commands, those of us left watch as Alphonse yells at Edward.

"Why didn't you run away when I told you to? You stupid brother!"

"Well I couldn't just run away and leave you here, Al," defends Edward.

"Which is why you're stupid!" insists Alphonse and he punches Edward for a second time.

Confused, Edward asks, "B-But why? If I had run away, you could have been killed!"

"And maybe I wouldn't have been killed! Choosing to die is something only a stupid person would do!"

"Hey! Go easy on calling your older brother stupid!"

"I'll say it as much as I like!" Alphonse grabs Edward's shirt and forces him to look him in the eye. "Live on! Live on and survive! Once you do some research into alchemy, you could find a way to get our bodies back, as well as a way to save kids like Nina! I won't ever allow you to do anything to abandon those possibilities and choose death!" With a creaking groan, Alphonse's arm breaks off. "Ah! Now my arm has come of, hasn't it! Brother, you stupid jerk!"

With a sigh, Edward leans forward and says, "We're falling apart, aren't we? Saying we look terrible wouldn't even begin to cover it."

"But we're still alive," Alphonse tells him.

"Mm-hmm, we're still alive," agrees Edward. I walk over to the brothers, aware that Riza, Havoc, and Armstrong are right behind me, and I kneel down in front of the two. They look up at me as Riza places her coat on Ed's shoulders, and they're emotions are so confusing that I just tune them out.

"You too," begins Alphonse, "never give up." I nod at him.

"Yeah," begins Edward, an odd look growing on his face, "what was that?!"

"What," I ask slowly, not sure what he's referring to.

"You know what I mean! When you got away from Scar, you ran to Mustang and not us!" I blink slowly at him, unsure why he's so bothered by this.

"You're supposed to come to us," says Alphonse, "Because we're you're friends!" I watch them silently for a moment, not sure what to say, until Havoc begins laughing loudly and we all turn to look at him.

"It's obvious," he says loudly enough for everyone in the area, even Hughes and Mustang to look over, "she ran to Mustang because she has a crush on him!" Everything's deadly silent for a moment, besides Havoc's laughter, until Hughes and Armstrong and Riza join in laughing too.

Edward and Alphonse seem to be choking. A moment later, I'm yelling, "You idiot! I do NOT, Havoc!" With this, I swing my leg around under me and slam it into his ankles, sending him crashing into the ground. He only laughs harder.

Sitting up slowly, Havoc teases through his laughter, "Admit it, kid, You've got a crush on the Colonel!" My eyes flash red for a moment and he laughs more, only stopping when I voice behind me says,

"That's enough, Havoc." I turn around to see a very red-faced Colonel Mustang.

Forcing his self to stop laughing, Havoc responds, "Yes sir!"

A few hours later, we're all packed into Mustang's office, listening to him speak about what is known about Scar, and his homeland Ishval. I find myself tuning him out almost completely, only gathering the basics about the war and the involvement of State Alchemists, and I contemplate everything.

I've only known these boys for a few days, same for the rest of the group. But for some reason, I feel as if I just might be able to… tell them.

I mentally scoff at the ridiculousness of that last thought. I can't tell _anyone_. How can I, especially now that these people are beginning to trust me, accept me? It would be just cruel to tell someone that everyone they know, everything they love, life itself will cease to exist the day I turn sixteen. I suppose, in the long run it would best to distance myself from them. Less painful, maybe kinder.

Or… with these thoughts, the emotions that simply being around these people, getting to know them has brought me… I begin to wonder once more, as I did when I was much younger and just beginning to truly understand my life and what it would one day bring, if maybe there is something I could do to prevent it all.

Would the prophecy not be prevented if the most important detail, my turning sixteen, never comes to pass? This most important detail, could it be prevented entirely? And, if I could prevent it, that means that Edward, Alphonse, Mustang, all of these people that I have so immediately come to care for would never have to know such anguish. They could live on as they should?

Mustang's speech is coming to a close and ideas are racing through my head-I can feel the smile that wishes to spread across my face.

Everyone could live, everyone could continue happily, and the only thing necessary for this is that I never turn sixteen.

_**Sorry about the huge delay! I have excuses, real ones, but I won't waste your time with them. I will say though, that all of those reviews made it so that this came out much faster than it would have otherwise. PLEASE review, and thanks for reading.**_

_**Also, I have one question-would you guys be alright if I did a bit of a time lapse through some of the episodes in this, summarizing what happens in them before moving on to more interesting bits? Please answer the question in your review. Virtual brownies to everyone that has and will review!**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**Chapter 5 of Standing in the Rain**_

_The darkness-where did it come from, how does she know it so well?-recedes gradually, and the heavy silence thins with it. Replacing it, Raven hears confused, excited, worried voices. Masses and tangles of these voices, but a few in particular strike some sort of cord. Opening her eyes slowly, Raven finds herself lying on a carpeted floor, surrounded by some of the oddest people she'd ever laid eyes on. The ones closest to her are the owners of those strangely familiar voices, and while she's looking directly at them, she can't seem to make out any true details. Bright red and yellow and green accented by black, glowing red and orange and purple and green, brown and silver and blue, and purple and black and green… Her chest clenches oddly at these color combinations as she struggles to pick out something more important, but can't even seem to comprehend size. The only details that she can make sense of are the colors of the four physically closest to her. She knows there are at least a dozen people around her, though._

_A rough, emotion-filled, authoritative voice cuts above the rest, silencing them all. "Raven, is that really you?"_

_They're waiting for a reply, and it slips from her lips even as the world is beginning to recede back to muddled, muted silence, "Who are you?"_

_Some of those that she can't make out even one detail of a whispering, alarmed, about her fading away, but the last thing that Raven truly picks out is the utter despair radiating from the four closest, and how that weighs on her heart._

Raven has been up for almost an hour now, long since finished with her morning rituals, and is sitting silently on the small couch in the hotel room she shares with the Elric brothers, silently sipping her hot tea. She's been more silent than usual this morning, barely giving Alphonse an absent-minded nod when he said good morning to her as she first got up. Alphonse knows he should be worried, but he's really just too distracted now. Edward is in the shower.

For her part, Raven's mind has not strayed from her strange dream even for a millisecond. She can remember the colors of these people rather vividly, and the voice of the red and green and yellow one, but barely anything else has stayed clearly in her mind. Still though, even with the lack of sense and detail, it feels nothing like a dream. Certainly, it was not one of her nightmares also. So, if not a creation of her imagination or a reminder from her father, what could it have been?

_A memory_ whispers a voice from deep within her mind. If it were a memory, she reasons with herself, it would have been clearer, made more sense. The emotions that those color combinations gave her would have a reason behind them. Besides, there really is no one in her past to give her such emotions, for she has not had a friend before Edward and Alphonse came along.

_Raven! Please, can't you remember me? Can you hear me? _There it is again, that voice, and she knows what it is this time. This is the voice of the boy from her dream, not something of her own imagination. She must remember this boy, some part of her, and something must have locked those memories away!

But if his voice is in her mind, and she knows it is not her doing, what does that mean? Has she formed some sort of mental link with him? Could he possibly mean that much to her that she would, for any reason, enter his mind? Raven knows not how, but simply that this boy is trying to contact her right now through this mental link, and she just knows that she willingly formed this with the boy. Who is he? More important still, who is he to Raven?

Before Raven can begin to attempt sending a thought back to this boy, a hand on her shoulder shock her out of her concentration.

Looking up, Raven remembers vaguely following Ed, Al, and Armstrong onto the Train and riding it for some time in silence. "Aren't you coming, Raven?"

Looking into Edward's eyes, the matter of the mysterious memories and mental link is pushed to the back of her mind. His golden orbs burn with excitement now, and something must have happened to make him want to leave the train early. Something in my face changes and he grins widely before grabbing my hand and sprinting away, dragging me along behind him; I don't mind one bit.

For hours after that, Raven has not one thought of the mysterious memory, focused entirely on what is happening around her. Even through meeting Pinako, an interesting old woman with many stories to tell, and Winry (when meeting her, Raven got the distinct feeling that Winry already doesn't like her), Raven stays attentive. In fact, it is not until three days later, as the four of them board the train to Central with Ed and Al all fixed up that she even remembers.

Drawing into herself, Raven concentrates on the link she knows is there. After a few moments, she knows that he can hear what she will think now.

_Can you hear me?_ The effect is immediate and excitement reaches her through the link, just as real as if he were right next to her and she was feeling his emotions.

_Raven! Are you okay? Do you remember me?_ It's the tone, the desperate hope, hearing his voice just one more time. Before the word even fully forms in her mind, she says it.

_Robin?!_

_**Yeah, it's sort of a filler, sorry. If it helps, this introduces a massive fricken plot twist that none of you, guest reviewers included, have even told me you were contemplating to the best of my memory. I just had to post this though. It's sort of a birthday gift to myself :D**_

_**Anyways, PLEASE REVIEW!**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**Chapter 6 of Standing in the Rain**_

_Hey, so sorry it took so incredibly long! Life exploded, but your continuous reviews got me through everything and back on track! I read every single review, even if I didn't respond! I'll be posting a list of those who've reviewed soon, maybe next chapter (which won't take so long)! Sorry about switching from first person to third, but it just felt right for this chapter and the last. I'll warn you all if I switch back to first! Please review, those are my motivations to continue writing!_**  
**

_Happy New Year!_

**Last chapter:**

**For hours after that, Raven has not one thought of the mysterious memory, focused entirely on what is happening around her. Even through meeting Pinako, an interesting old woman with many stories to tell, and Winry (when meeting her, Raven got the distinct feeling that Winry already doesn't like her), Raven stays attentive. In fact, it is not until three days later, as the four of them board the train to Central with Ed and Al all fixed up that she even remembers.**

**Drawing into herself, Raven concentrates on the link she knows is there. After a few moments, she knows that he can hear what she will think now.**

_**Can you hear me?**_** The effect is immediate and excitement reaches her through the link, just as real as if he were right next to her and she was feeling his emotions.**

_**Raven! Are you okay? Do you remember me?**_** It's the tone, the desperate hope, hearing his voice just one more time. Before the word even fully forms in her mind, she says it.**

_**Robin?!**_

Martial art expert, leader of the largest team of young superheroes ever formed with numbers beginning to surpass even the Justice League, the bravest man she'd ever met, a man who'd literally gone to hell and back just for her, the reason she could never give up hope… How could she ever forget Robin? And all of her friends, not just him, the people she owes who she is today, how could she forget them?

"Raven?" calls Edward from his seat directly next to her, and in a very out-of-character display of her frayed nerves and confusion, Raven continues talking without realizing it.

"Robin, I forgot him! And Cyborg, Beastboy, Starfire, Bee, Speedy, Mas y Menos, Aqualad, I can't believe I forgot everyone! Oh Azar, and I forgot my own age! I'm eighteen! Something, or someone, must have done this to me, made me forget and entire dimension and years of my life! I'm just lucky they obviously didn't know what they were doing-or they intended for me to remember at some point-or they didn't know about my mental link with Robin?-"

"RAVEN?!" Edward, she realizes, has been calling her name increasingly louder as she ranted, and finally yells her name. Raven closes her mouth, a blush forming on her cheeks, and looks to Edward. She can feel now the confusion and worry in the room, so strong it would choke her if she were younger and less experienced. Enclosed spaces had always seemed to amplify emotions of the people inside, and it must have aided to her verbal diarrhea.

When he's satisfied that Raven won't keep blurting out random things anymore, Edward begins, "What were you talking about, Raven? Who are Robin and all of those other people? What kind of name is Starfire, or Beastboy? And what do you mean, you're eighteen?"

Raven thinks for a moment about how to respond before finally saying, "Do you remember that night when we told each other about our pasts? And the other dimension I told you about?" Edward nods and Alphonse makes an affirmative noise. She looks to Alphonse and back to Edward as she continues explaining, focusing on both of them. "When I left Azarath, I was supposed to arrive in the third dimension I mentioned to you, the one with highly advanced technology. While here, I've been under the impression that I simply came here instead, some mistake in the enchantment I used to make the portal-I was wrong."

Armstrong's distinct confusion and silence reminds me that he's here also, but Raven finds she has no qualms about him hearing, nor would she if he were replaced with Mustang. "I did go to the dimension I intended to, I was there for years. That Earth, it not only has highly advanced technology, but also every country on the planet is interconnected, they trade together and communicate, there's even a council where the heads of each country meets to debate politics and find peaceful solutions to problems, though there still are wars. The world is massive, with many countries and billions of people, and something happened somewhere along the line to make some of the people different. You see, where this world has Alchemists and Alchemy, the other world has meta-humans with super-powers and superheroes and super villains, and there are aliens who choose to live amongst the humans, often as either a hero or a villain."

Alphonse, clearly growing more and more confused, as are his brother and Armstrong, interrupts Raven. "Wait, so you're saying there are more people like you there? With powers like yours?"

"No. There's no one like me there, I'm very different. But there are many with powers like mine in that they are supernatural, like incredible speed and strength, the gift of flight or telepathy, or those that can manifest thoughts and ideas into the living realm-the list of different abilities is practically endless."

Raven decides to give them time to consider what she had said thus far, and glances out the window. She realizes that the train had begun slowing down not long ago, and it stops are she begins to get a good look at the town they've pulled up at. It's a small place with an odd name, but there are a number of shops around and a fresh market that she believe she could find what she may need at. She stands and says, "We need to get out here, quickly."

She opens the door and exits their compartment, and the others rush after her. As she drops down the steps to the platform serving as a train station, Edward asks, "Why are we getting off here?

"Follow me and I'll continue my explanation," she responds as she heads off in the direction of the market.

As they follow her to the market, Raven continues, "So, in this other dimension, I met four people. Their names are Robin, Cyborg, Beastboy, and Starfire, and they have been my closest friends for a very long time. Robin is our leader, and the only one of the five of us with no powers. He's simply human, but he has trained his entire life in many forms of martial arts and other fighting techniques, so it wouldn't take him more than a minute to defeat all three of you together with you all using alchemy." Edward begins to object to that as we enter to market and Raven begins to look for what she will need as she keeps talking over him. "Cyborg used to be human, though he's not anymore. He was in a horrible accident and his father, a brilliant scientist, used the advanced technology of the world to make him half-robot, hence his name. He wouldn't be alive without the amazing technology available there, and he's constantly inventing and creating new things, and upgrading all of our equipment which he invented himself." Raven stops speaking as they stop at one of many herb stands and she picks out the proper ingredients. Edward pays for it all without complaint.

As they continue on through the stands, she continues on through her explanations. "Beastboy is a doofus, but also one of the bravest and kindest people I've ever met. He is not a meta-human either, because he wasn't born with his abilities. When he was young, he contracted a horrible disease for which there was no cure. His parents, also brilliant scientists but of a different area of science, created an untested cure for him. It worked, but at a price. His skin is bright green, his ears are pointed, he has fangs, and he can morph into any animal he knows of: everything from the smallest bug to the largest elephant or whale, and some things even stranger."

Edward interrupts once more and says, "But how is that possible? The difference in mass alone from a human to an ant to an elephant-it's just not possible!"

Raven looks at him pointedly and says, "I'm a grey-skinned, purple-haired, purple-eyed girl from a dimension of pacifist monks who uses her soul to manipulate the physical world, and you have a problem with Beastboy?" He goes silent once more, and she can feel Alphonse switching between amusement and confusion beside her. They continue walking.

"Starfire is an alien. She's kind and brave, just like Beastboy. She's innocent, but at the same time, she's more wise than most of the people you'll ever meet. Starfire is from a planet of kind warriors, and she's the princess of her people. She can fire starbolts-balls of condensed energy-from her hands and lasers from her eyes, her strength can rarely be met by the force of _anything_, and she can fly."

Raven carefully watches the others as they take in what she's told them as she picks out a few more herbs. Finally, she begins to lead them from the market to the row of shops at the center of town, explaining more along the way.

"We are a team, the five of us together, and we could defeat anything you through at us. We quickly became famous at our hometown as the Teen Titans, the protectors and defenders of Jump City-or wherever we were needed to protect. We've all saved each other's lives more times than I can remember, and we've saved the city and the world even more times than that. As we became more capable, we traveled more to other parts of the world, meeting endless teens and young adults like us. They would all join the Teen Titans. It didn't take long for us to become a world-wide operation, protecting everyone from villains and super villains, from natural disasters, alien attacks, or anything else you can think of. And there we are, our original team at the center, with Robin leading every single one of us."

They arrive at a small shop with an overwhelming smell of many candles and scented herbs. Raven gathered a number of scentless candles and Edward paid for them quietly so they could leave quickly. Out of the shop, Raven began leading them out of the town, toward a dense forest, and continued explaining.

"I have almost all of my memory back now-everything except for how I got here. I know it wasn't by choice, I would never simply leave my friends-"

"How do you know you've just forgotten choosing to come here?" Edward demands.

"Because I have a mental link with Robin. Before you ask, a mental link is a connection that forms when I enter another person's mind, which I had to do to save him. We've used this link ever since to communicate in situations where we couldn't otherwise-like once when I was taken by a villain and said villain took my communicator. Robin had no way of knowing where I was, until we started talking over the mental link. That was the first time we did it, and we wouldn't be able to communicate so well over it if we didn't trust each other and didn't spend so many days and nights working on honing it."

"So," begins Alphonse slowly, "you've been communicating with Robin?"

"Exactly. Well, since I began explaining things to you on the train, I've been ignoring Robin, which is quite hard when he's decided to let his every thought be broadcasted into my head, which I told him to never do again. The last time he did this, was done only for the purpose of annoying me after we got into an argument over something entirely ridiculous." Raven didn't realize it, but every time she mentioned Robin, Edward could see the smile of her face as clearly as day, a fact which angered him to no end.

Finally, they entered a clearing in the forest, and Raven stopped walking. "What are we doing here?" Asked Edward sounding thoroughly unimpressed.

"I have a plan," began Raven as her hand glowed black. With a simple sweeping motion, a large area of the forest floor cleared away, and she set to work.

"What's your plan?" Asked Edward as her watched her pick up a stick with her powers and begin to draw something in the dirt.

"Well, there's a certain form of magic based on your alchemy that I studied years ago in Azarath. It was created by a man who visited this dimension, which is quite rare because the majority of those aware of trans-dimensional travel have no interest in this place, mostly because it is a common idea that alchemy is a very basic, limited form of magic that most think themselves above. Stop being so offended, I never said they were right! Alchemy, as you know, is not a basic magic but an advanced science, which is why I was able to appreciate the book I studied this from. Science and magic are very hard to combine with disastrous effects."

Edward interrupted Raven and cried out, "Hang on, that's a human transmutation circle you're drawing!"

"Yes," began Raven, making her companions shudder at her matter-of-fact tone, "it is. This particular spell requires a human transmutation circle, because I'm going to be transporting a human."

"So you're leaving?" Asked Alphonse, sounding upset enough to stop Raven and make her look up. Edward and Alphonse found themselves shocked by the kindness in her eyes, despite her blank face and rigid posture.

"I couldn't leave yet. I owe you both too much," said Raven, "and not just you two, but everyone. But Robin has made himself clear: he won't let me stay here alone, even if I am actually with you. He is my leader, and my best friend, so I'm going to respect his over-protective wishes. This spell that I'm working is not to send me away-that's impossible with this type of magic. It's to bring someone here," she paused at this point, eyes closing briefly and a hand coming to massage her temple as Robin's constant nagging in her mind exploded into him demanding. After a moment, she looked back up and continued, "Sorry, Robin's thoughts are giving me a headache. If I were still the person I was when I first left Azarath, I would leave you now. But I've grown since then, and I know that I could not leave you without repaying my debt. After I get Robin here, I'm going to do everything I can to help you boys toward your goal. I'm going help you get your bodies back."

The brothers were speechless. Edward couldn't help but to be awed by just how much regaining her memories had changed Raven. She was so obviously more comfortable in her environment, so much more mature and kind, and so much more confident. Finally, he said in unison with his brother, "Thank you."


End file.
